The Stalker
by Riss123
Summary: What if Bella was more upset about Edward watching her without her knowledge rather than just him hearing the sleep talking. - Done for the Scene Stealer's Contest, Twilight Chapter 14  dropping her off after the day in the meadow


**Scene Stealers Contest Entry**

**Title: The Stalker**

**Book and Chapter you are stealing: Twilight Chapter 14 **

**(pg 292 paperback edition)**

**Penname: Riss123**

**Word Count: 6030**

**Rating: T**

**Beta: Shasta53**

**Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine; I'm just taking them out to play.**

**Summary: What if Bella was more upset about Edward watching her without her knowledge rather than just him hearing the sleep talking.**

**http: / www . fanfiction . net/~ scenestealerscontest**

He reached the door ahead of me and opened it for me. I paused halfway through the frame.

"The door was unlocked?"

"No, I used the key from under the eave."

As I walked through the door, I turned his statement over in my head. I knew that I had never used that key in front of him, so how did he know about it? We walked down the hall to the kitchen so I could fix my dinner as I tried to figure out what exactly I wanted to ask him. I settled for just looking at him and raising my eyebrows in a question to him.

After he took a seat at the table in the chair I had been envisioning him in before we walked into the house, he finally met my glaze and answered.

"I was curious about you."

For the first time since that day in the biology, classroom I had a feeling of fear around Edward. What did he mean by that statement? When was he watching me? After a minute of just staring at him, I finally found the courage to ask him a question, though I was too shocked to properly infuse it with the outrage I was feeling at his revelation. My hunger for food, which had precipitated our now disastrous entrance into the house, was completely forgotten as I tried to figure out exactly what he meant by his statement.

"You spied on me?"

He was unrepentant. "What else is there to do at night?"

I turned to look out the kitchen window, unable to handle looking at him as I worked through my reaction to his answer. The fear was continuing to bubble up inside of me. I almost found it funny that I spent the day with a vampire who said my blood calls to him above any other, and it didn't bother me. His display of strength, speed and power in the meadow caused only a slight moment of fear. But his admission of spying had me feeling almost as fearful as the night in Port Angeles before he pulled up in his Volvo and saved me.

"How long?"

"Hmmm?" He sounded as if I pulled him from some other train of thought.

I still didn't turn around. "How long have you been watching me?"

"Since the day everyone asked you to the dance, I've come here almost every night."

The fear had my heart pounding at this point and I had to know more. I whirled, stunned. "Why?"

He had the audacity to send me one of his crooked grins before answering. But I was so livid and fearful that, for the first time, it didn't dazzle me. "You're interesting when you sleep." He spoke matter-of-factly. "You talk."

At this point my heart was pounding so hard I'm surprised it didn't jump out of my chest on its own. I was a little embarrassed that he had heard me talking in my sleep, but more horrified and terrified that he had sat there and watched me.

Eventually, he seemed to realize I didn't find this to be a normal thing to do as he finally seemed to notice my emotional upheaval. I'm betting my run away heart gave me away. His expression shifted instantly to chagrin. "Are you very angry with me?"

"That depends!" I practically yelled as I was so overcome with anger and fear that I could barely breathe. I forced air into my lungs so I was able to clearly enunciate my next question. "Were you just watching me sleep or were you also getting your rocks off watching me get changed?"

His expression turned horrified as he cried out, "No!"

He stood and tried to approach me, but I quickly moved to put myself between the table and the entrance to the kitchen and started to back out toward the hallway. Intellectually, I understood that he could catch me no matter how far away I was, but that didn't mean I wanted him to get any closer.

"So you think it's okay to stalk me just because you didn't stoop to being a true Peeping Tom?"

For once, Edward seemed to be completely stunned and lacking in words. His mouth seemed to be trying to speak, but never actually getting any words out. But I quickly filled the silence.

"How dare you come into my house after spying on me for over a week? I don't have a problem with your strength or your diet. Or at least I didn't until you told me you were stalking me like a prey animal."

"Bella, I . . ." Edward started to say, but I couldn't stand being near him for even one more second, let alone handle his excuses.

"Get out," I said, barely managing to keep from yelling it as I cut him off.

If I could describe Edward's expression at that moment, it would have been despair. Every bit of happiness that had been infused in him by our afternoon in the meadow was gone.

He started to move forward, but then looked pointedly between me and the hallway. I realized that in my efforts to move away from his advances I had placed myself between Edward and the exit from the kitchen.

I moved backward into the hallway and toward the back of the house, carefully moving out of his way. I also realized I needed to clearly define my expectations of his behavior. "You are not to spy on me any more. The only time you are allowed in my presence, seen or unseen, is if I give you permission or when required by school. Otherwise, stay away from me."

Edward began to nod but then cocked his head to the side and quietly stated, "Your father is a block away. I'll go out the back so he doesn't see me."

He stood in front of me a moment longer, his face clearly showed his emotions again, this time apologetic. Just before I felt the air shift as he almost invisibly raced past I thought I heard a quiet, "I'm sorry."

The next sound I heard was the gravel under my father's tires as he pulled into the driveway. I quickly realized I was in no shape to face him. Rather than risk having to talk to him, I climbed the stairs as quickly as I dared and decided to jump in the shower to avoid him. As I gathered my shower bag I also double checked to make sure I had all my clothes for the evening. I was pretty sure Edward would keep his promise to stay away, but I wasn't about to give him a free show either.

As I walked across the hall to go into the bathroom, Charlie called out, "Are you up there, Bells?"

"Yeah, Dad. I'm not feeling well so I'm going to take a shower and head to bed early."

He was quiet for a moment before responding, "I hope you feel better."

I answered him as I was closing the door with a simple, "Thanks."

I wasn't sure he bought my little white lie, especially since it was early enough that I could still head out to the dance later. I'd have to make a quick appearance before heading to bed so that he didn't suspect me of trying to sneak out.

All I wanted to do once I was in the bathroom was shut the door and fall to the floor crying, but even my usually unobservant father might catch that and wonder what was going on. Especially with this afternoon's revelation, I wasn't about to clue him in on my day's activities. I may be pissed off at Edward's action, but until I could come up with a cover story, telling my Police Chief dad I was upset because my boyfriend was stalking me, would cause way too many questions.

Determined to take a few minutes to myself to try to calm down, I turned the water on as hot as I could stand before stripping and climbing in. As I stood there and allowed the water to soothe my aching, anxiety tensed muscles, I tried to clear my mind of all the stressors.

For the first few minutes, I was enjoying the heat. But once my muscles started to fully relax under the pounding spray, I started to feel like something wasn't right. I finally started my shower routine, trying to ignore the smells of my shampoo and body wash. I didn't need another reminder of Edward and how much he enjoyed my "smell."

But just as I finally finished rinsing my hair I had another reminder, this time much more dramatic. Apparently, I had been in the shower a whole lot longer than I thought since the hot water was rapidly running out causing the previously deliciously warm water to rapidly cool.

I quickly jumped out and began to dry myself off. After I finished toweling off and started to pull on my normal sleepwear of a holey T-shirt and grey sweatpants, I finally realized what had been wrong with the hot shower. While the water had relaxed me, it didn't feel right after what had been a wonderful afternoon. As I touched my skin while pulling on the clothes, the effects of the cold water rinse became apparent.

As my mind finally processed that I was enjoying that my skin more closely resembled Edward's, I quickly finished pulling my clothes on. Frustrated that I was still thinking of him, I decided to warm myself up quickly and determined the quickest way was to take the time to dry my hair. The warm air would quickly put him out of my mind.

Again, I enjoyed the heat and so I took the time to straighten my hair, which really was a losing proposition to maintain in the constant rain that hung over Forks. As I went to go through it one more time, I stopped with a huff of frustration once I realized I was taking the time to make myself beautiful for him. I quickly threw my hair up into a messy bun and stalked out of the traitorous bathroom and put my shower bag and dirty clothes back in my room.

I took a minute to calm down before heading most of the way down the stairs. As I came low enough to see into the living room, I called out to tell my dad goodnight.

He quickly looked up from his game at my words, giving my attire a once over before responding.

"You're going to bed?"

"Yeah, I'm not really feeling well. I'm going to read for a little while before going to sleep early."

He didn't look quite convinced, probably weighing the chances I was planning to change clothes and try to sneak out. But my expression must have looked sick enough because he didn't press too much.

"Did you have dinner?"

"No, I'm not really feeling up to it. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I was planning on going fishing with Billy tomorrow. Do you need me to stay home?"

"You don't need to cancel your plans. If I'm still not feeling well, I'm just going to spend the day in bed. And if I am, I still have the laundry to finish up." I tried to smile when I said that but my lying skills weren't that good even at the best of times, so I'm sure my attempt fell well short of believable.

Despite that he seemed to accept my words as he turned his attention back to the game on the TV.

As soon as his attention left me, I scurried back upstairs to the safety of my bedroom. I decided not to lock the door because I had a feeling he may want to check on me after I was asleep to make sure I was actually in my bed.

Once the door was closed, I leaned back against it before using it to support me as I slid to the floor. The enormity of my day finally hit me as I realized exactly how much I had learned. The highs and lows of the day, the kiss and Edward's stalking respectively, were finally sinking in. But after only a few moments some thoughts came to the forefront of my mind.

There were three things I was absolutely certain of. First, Edward had been sneaking into my room and watching me while I slept. Second, I was absolutely livid with him for this stalking behavior.  
And third, I was still in love with him.

With that realization, all the emotions I'd bottled up let loose and I finally started to cry. I quickly picked myself up off the floor and crawled into my bed, not wanting my dad to hear any sobs through the door. I even took the additional step of burying myself under the covers for additional sound dampening.

At first I didn't think, just letting my body express its conflicted emotions. After a few minutes of just simply crying, the thoughts started to swirl in my head. How could I not hate him for his behavior? It wasn't just creepy, but against the law in many states.

After crying for a while, I finally started to calm down, at least a little bit. Now that my thoughts weren't racing quite as fast I was able to think a little more rationally and realize that I did know that he wouldn't have watched me changing. He was just too old fashioned in his manners to do something like that. But the watching me sleep was by itself, certainly disturbing. How could I still love him after an invasion of my privacy like that?

With the thought of Edward and sleeping, my mind detoured to the thought of sleeping in Edward's arms, maybe even tonight if I hadn't sent him away. As soon as I realized that my attention had moved away from the anger still trapped inside, I stopped that train of thought. If I didn't work through my anger and fear now, any relationship involving Edward and myself, be it friendship or more, would be doomed from the start.

I guessed what I needed to do was try to understand his behavior. Maybe if I could discern a reason for it I wouldn't find it so creepy and criminal, which was where my fear and anger were coming from. There had to be some type of logical reason for him to want to watch me at all times. It didn't mean he was insane to break into my room to watch me while I was unconscious. Listening to my nighttime musings certainly didn't make him a villain.

That definitely wasn't the line of reasoning to take, since it was only making things worse. Especially remembering how matter-a-fact he was in describing his lawbreaking habit. But then again, this was the same guy who compared my smell to an addiction to heroin.

And with that, I had my answer. With all my thoughts on Edward's behavior, I'd avoided looking at the elephant in the room. For as much as I would tell Edward that he wasn't any different than me, the truth was that hewas not human, he was a vampire.

Most of the time he would basically act human, but there were obviously some key differences. A human wouldn't have wanted to kill me with one whiff of my scent. A human wouldn't be worried about hurting me by touching me too hard while simply giving me a hug.

Could this be the root of the problem? His first instinct was to attack me, was his behavior result of that? Was he stalking me like prey as I had already accused him of being?

My heart was back to racing in fear. Did he still see me as food, despite his many years of abstinence? Was this some sort of game for him to lure me in and attack me? Was he playing with his food?

Before my thoughts could go further down that road and actually have my heart race so fast that it would try to burst out of my chest, I thought back to the last few days. Edward was the one worried about the fact I hadn't told anyone about our date today. He was the one who wanted to do everything he could to ensure I came home today. He constantly fought against his nature in order to spend time with me.

Maybe this was one part of his nature he couldn't fight. The instinct to follow and observe overrode the rules laid out by humans. Edward probably didn't even consider that he was doing something wrong until my blowup in the kitchen.

Was it that simple? Now that I realized it might be purely another product of being a vampire, like the speed, strength or need for blood, could I look the other way?

Before I could contemplate these latest revelations any further, I heard Charlie coming up the stairs. Still not wanting him to question my state of mind, I quickly grabbed my trusty _Pride and Prejudice _book from the nightstand and turned onto my stomach so the only thing he would see would be the back of my head and that I was reading a book.

Not surprisingly, the first thing he did upon reaching the second floor was head to my room and knock on the door. My quick invitation to come in seemed to startle him. Rather than do so he answered that he simply wanted to wish me a goodnight and that he was headed to bed himself.

After I heard his door close, I continued to turn over my latest revelation in my head. Was Edward's behavior really the product of his vampire nature and not something more sinister? Did he really not realize what he was doing was wrong? Would he follow my requests or would the vampire in him override my objections?

As I turned these questions over in my head, I realized that I couldn't answer them. Without Edward I wouldn't be able to satisfy my curiosity. While the fear of him wasn't eliminated I realized I wanted to be able to question him, even if it meant spending time in his presence before I eliminated my fears in order to get my answers.

But I wouldn't be seeing him until at least Monday since I had sent him away. I quickly realized I had no way of getting in contact with him prior to then.

For the first time since we had entered the house this afternoon, I began to feel the connection I had with Edward. Apparently, the fear had been strong enough to drive it away temporarily. The feeling of missing him finally broke through the anger and the fear that had pervaded my mind all evening.

Recognizing that there was nothing else that could be done tonight, I decided to try to put all these thoughts aside. I turned out the light and attempted to fall asleep.

Not surprisingly, my brain didn't like that idea and refused to shut down. I tossed and turned for a while before realizing I wouldn't be falling asleep on my own for quite awhile. For a moment, I considered my NyQuil approach from the previous night, but with the afternoon conversation about drugs and addictions, I didn't think I would be able to swallow it down. Instead, I tried to ignore the swirling questions and study the moonlight reflecting on my ceiling in an attempt to bore myself to sleep.

Once I heard Charlie's snores echoing through the house, I decided that lying in my bed was just making me go insane. I grabbed a jacket and headed out to sit on the front porch. Maybe the night sky would have better answers or at least be more soothing than my ceiling, because the ceiling certainly hadn't been very forthcoming.

Amazingly, I made it down the steps without tripping, though my heart stopped when I stepped on the creaky stair, petrified that I might have woken Charlie. As I headed out towards the front door, I noticed the house phone sitting on the hall table. I thought about how much easier the conversation would be with Edward if I wasn't distracted by his beauty or scent. But one in the morning was certainly not a good time to obtain someone's phone number. Edward and his family may not be sleeping, but I doubted I would be able to Google their phone numbers.

As I stepped outside and went to sit down on the top step, I realized there was a small box sitting there. As my heart started pounding again, I had the errant thought of it finally giving out from as much stress as I'd been putting on it today.

By the light of the moon, I was able to see a note laying on top with my name on it. The first thing I noticed was that the writing, while still a million times better than my own scrawl, wasn't Edward's. I hesitantly sat down next to it, picked up the package and opened the folded note.

_Bella,_

_Please do not feel obligated to use this gift. I know at some point you may have questions and want to talk._

_Love,_

_Alice_

I opened the box and pulled out the small silver cell phone from inside. I wanted to be mad at her for coming to my house, but I guessed the psychic already saw that I couldn't be too angry for giving me the ability to do what I had just been thinking about. I also had a feeling that Edward wasn't aware of her little meddling.

For the next half hour or so, I sat there with the phone in my hands trying to work up the courage to call. Finally, I realized that the only way I would manage to get any sleep tonight was if I had some answers to my questions.

I hesitantly opened the phone and started to scroll through the contacts. Listed within were the cell phone numbers of the entire Cullen family. Selecting Edward's name, I pressed send before I could chicken out.

He didn't answer until after the fourth ring and then it was with a simple, "Hello." His voice, usually so musical and enticing was absolutely flat. It conveyed the same emotion as his look of despair before he fled my house earlier.

Suddenly, my planned interrogation didn't seem like the way to start. Instead I simply answered him with my own simple, "Hi."

"Bella," Edward answered, his voice sounded hopeful before he began pleading. "I'm so sorry. I know I was wrong. Just say the word and I'll go as far away as you need me to."

"Stop," I practically yelled to get him to stop his uncharacteristic rambling. I wasn't quite ready to hear his apologies. I wanted my questions answered before I knew if I would accept them. "Can we just talk for a few minutes?"

"Certainly, Bella. Whatever you desire."

"Is Alice always so sneaky?"

"I knew she was up to something when she popped into my room while singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic in Korean. That must have been when she slipped this phone onto my desk."

"She left a similar package on my front porch."

"I'm sorry. If I had realized she was doing that, I would have stopped her."

"Why?"

"You told us to stay away."

"No," I said after a moment of reflection, "I told _you_ to stay away after I learned something that freaked me out. I hadn't really thought about the rest of your family."

"I'm sorry," Edward started apologizing again and again I cut him off. It was time to start the grilling.

"Can I ask you some questions?"

"Anything."

I thought for a little while, trying to decide where I wanted to start. Finally, I figured I would begin with the biggest question.

"Were you stalking me like prey?"

"Not exactly," Edward hesitantly answered after a few moments of silence.

"What does that mean?" was my sharp reply.

"One part is easily answered. Except for those first few moments in biology I have never thought of you as prey. It's the rest that's harder to explain. It's complicated."

I almost broke out into a small smile as I threw his words from our first conversation in biology at him. "I think I can keep up."

When Edward answered, I could hear the relief that colored his reply. Obviously, my dismissal of him from my house this afternoon had worried him. My casual reference to happier times must have showed him I wasn't just focusing on my anger with his decisions and that I wasn't ignoring our happier times.

"The first night I visited your room, I knew it was wrong. I hadn't meant to come to your house. I had been hunting and afterwards, I was just running, wasting time until morning when I realized I was headed toward your house. At first, I was just going to check if you were safe in your bed. Then, I needed to be in the same room with you. I had finally convinced myself that I had to leave your room when you said my name.

"I was petrified that you had discovered me in your room, but I saw you were still asleep and you had only said my name while sleep talking. I knew that I couldn't stay in your room any more, but as I moved to the window to leave you talked again."

He took a moment, perhaps to see how I was reacting before he continued.

"You said, 'Stay. Don't go. Please . . . don't go.' I practically collapsed into your rocking chair when you said those words, so powerful was their impact on me. I've told you that vampires are frozen at the point of change. Our physical appearance will never change, but the meeting of your mate can cause our emotions to change. At that moment, my love for you seemed to grow and infuse every cell in my body, forever binding me to you.

"I should have left. I should have stayed away, but I couldn't. The emotional bond that was created makes it very difficult to be away from you."

After this confession, he was quiet for a while. I decided it was time for another question.

"So is it a vampire thing?"

"Partially," Edward cautiously replied. "I should have been stronger. I should have thought about the wrongness beyond that first night, but the fact that you asked me to stay, even if only in a dream, seemed to override any rational thought.

"You need to know that besides that one night in Port Angeles, I've only ever come to see you, or as you eloquently said, stalk you, after both you and Charlie were asleep. It made it easier to be around you during the day since I was accustomed to your scent after spending the night in your room, but that was only an excuse. All I could think of was how good it felt to be around you even if you were sleeping.

"I don't think I was actually stalking you, more like indulging the strength of the vampire bond. I know it was wrong. All I can say is I'm sorry and I'll never do it again."

"Any other freaky or criminal vampire traits I need to know about?"

"I think you know most everything. There's the diet and the hunting skills that go with it, enhanced senses, speed, strength, reaction to the sun, inability to sleep and the special abilities."

"So you read minds and Alice sees the future, anything else special in your family?"

"Jasper is the only other one of us with a specific gift. He is able to read and even modify the emotions of other people. The rest of the family brought their strongest traits with them like Emmett's strength or Carlisle's compassion, but no other freaky abilities."

I was unable to hold back a small snort of laughter at hearing Edward use the word freaky. It seemed even more out of place coming out of his mouth than the curse when he saved me from Tyler's van. Taking a deep breath to avoid actually laughing since we weren't quite done with our serious discussion, I continued with my questions.

"So, no other abilities, how about any other shall we say, non-human behavior on your part?"

"Besides hunting rather than getting our food at the grocery store and an extra eight hours of time to fill every night, we try to live a human life. The primary difference is that despite the fact I look seventeen and attend high school, I'm actually over a hundred and have several advanced degrees. But I will say that falling for you has definitely made me happy to be reliving my youth."

"So I make you feel young?"

"Exactly, though in my case my family says that I'm finally acting my age. According to them, despite being the youngest to be changed, I've always been the old man of the group."

I could definitely agree with that statement. It was one of the first things I noticed about him, that he almost seemed to be from another time.

Sorting through my mental list I tried to figure out what other questions needed to get answered. Not surprisingly, my many hours of contemplation had boiled down to only a couple of questions. Edward did a great job of calming my fears and clarifying his motives. Searching through the thoughts that had run through my mind earlier, I found another question for him.

"Any instances where you've used your vampire abilities around me?"

"Besides the major incidents, Tyler's van, Port Angeles and at the meadow, I've done my best to be human around you. Of course, my extra senses don't turn off, but the fact that I can be with you and not hear your thoughts definitely makes me feel more human. To actually be surprised by your words not only because I didn't hear them in my mind before you said them, but because you are different from everyone else has been liberating. And I mean different in the best possible way since you really don't want to know what goes through the minds of everyone else in school. Mainly, I was doing my best to avoid bringing you into my world. Meaning that due to my instant connection with you, I was forcing myself to stay away."

"Why?"

"Because my world is dangerous?"

"And mine isn't? How many times have you saved my life?"

"Touché. As we've recognized today, I'm trying to establish a balance between what my instincts are and being close to you."

"When in doubt, first check to see if it is against the law, then ask. I'm still learning what your boundaries are too, as demonstrated by the excessive enthusiasm at our kiss."

Edward laughed a little at that before sobering up to ask a question of his own.

"Are we better now?"

"I think so," I answered after some reflection. "Obviously, we need to work on our communication. I can live with the vampire differences, but we have to communicate so this type of freak-out doesn't happen again."

"Bella," Edward paused for a minute as if gathering his courage before continuing quietly. "Would you be interested in spending some time together later today?"

"I'd like that," I quickly replied. Now that I understood where he was coming from and had worked through my reaction, I didn't really want to wait until Monday at school to see him again. Though given the late hour there were less than thirty hours until classes started.

"Is there anything specific you would like to do?"

"Not really. Do you have something in mind?" I teased.

"I would like you to come over to our house so I can introduce you to my family."

"Oh," was my eloquent reply as I felt my heart speed up yet again. Taking a deep breath I pushed back my concerns and answered him. "We can do that."

"Are you scared?" came Edward's almost laughing response. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

"I'm not worried about that," I said with complete honesty. "I'm concerned they won't like me."

"In all respects, you have nothing to worry about," Edward said confidently. "Tonight's little episode, which was entirely my fault, aside, they have seen how you have brought me to life. Just look at what Alice did for us. They already love you, just like I do. For now, I should let you go so you can get some sleep before you come over later today.

"I guess so," was my reluctant reply.

"We'll talk more once you wake up," Edward said after I let out a big yawn. "Give me a call as soon as you wake up and I'll pick you up."

"We'd better take my truck, otherwise Charlie will wonder where I am."

"I guess so, as long as you let me drive," Edward replied with a laugh before continuing more quietly. "Can I meet him when I come to your house?"

"You already know him."

"Yes, but I'd like to introduce myself to him as your boyfriend."

Again I was overwhelming with my eloquence, "Oh," was my surprised reply.

"Is that all right?" Edward nervously asked.

"Is that what you are?" I questioned.

"I was hoping," was Edward's optimistic reply.

"I'd like that," I said with a huge smile breaking out on my face. It was all I could do not to wish I could travel via cell phone so I could give him a big kiss to seal the deal. "But it will have to be another time. He'll be up in the next couple hours to head out fishing. So I guess I need to get back into bed before he finds me out here."

Again visions of him tucking me into bed flew into my head, but this time I simply smiled as I focused my attention back on Edward. Of course, that reminded me that it was probably a good thing he wasn't there to question the goofy grin on my face.

"Good night Bella. I'll see you in a few hours."

I took a deep breath before returning his greeting, trying to get the courage to go ahead and ask him to come over for a hug, which I was craving after our declarations.

"Good night Edward. Would you . . ." I trailed off as I quickly rethought what I was going to say. After all we'd been through today, I wasn't sure it was a good idea to invite him over, no matter how much I wanted to.

"What is it Bella? Do you need something?"

"I'm not sure."

"Do you need to cancel on the family visit?" Edward asked hesitantly.

"No," I quickly replied. I took a deep breath as I realized that my word vomit had piqued his curiosity and I wouldn't get away without an answer. Now I just had to decide if I was going to tell him the truth. Since he wasn't across the table looking at me, there was a chance I could get away with a white lie to protect my dignity. But did I really want to? I decided we'd been so honest tonight, I would go ahead and put it out there. The worst he could say would be no.

"I was thinking that it would have been nice to get a hug goodnight from my new boyfriend."

"I'll see you in a few minutes," was Edward's quick, enthusiastic reply.

With a smile, I hastily headed back to my room. I figured I might as well enjoy being awake for his latest nocturnal visit. Plus I really wanted to see if he looked as good in my rocking chair as he had at the kitchen table.

* * *

**A/N - Thanks for taking a look at my first foray into Twilight Fanfic. Huge thanks to my beta, shasta53, for encouraging me to post this and listening to a billion late night rants. **


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